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Two of Marc Polmans\u2019 colleagues have defended his character after he was disqualified from the Shanghai Masters qualifying for smashing a ball into the air that hit the umpire\u2019s face. The world No 140 was match point up in his quest to reach the main draw of a Masters 1000 event for the first time and unleashed his frustration when he dumped the ball into the net. But a fellow player and a former coach both claimed that Polmans was the \u201cnicest guy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Polmans was kicked out of the qualifying tournament in Shanghai on the spot after sending a tennis ball flying into the chair umpire\u2019s face. The Australian was 6-5 up on Stefano Napolitano\u2019s serve in the second set tiebreak, having won the opener. But he missed a volley at the net and smashed the ball in anger.<\/p>\n
It unintentionally made contact with the umpire, resulting in an instant default. As a result, Polmans will also lose all prize money and ranking points earned during the qualifying event, having previously won his opening match.<\/p>\n
Two of Polmans\u2019 colleagues have now given a glowing character reference for the 26-year-old following his outburst. Fellow Australian tennis star John Millman took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to claim that Polmans would be full of remorse for his actions.<\/p>\n
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive tennis news<\/strong><\/p>\n Just in <\/strong> Tennis bosses under fire as players and top coach express mental health fears[LATEST] <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cReally hope the umpire is okay. They should be safe working in their environment. No excuses for this. No one would feel worse than Marc about this. He\u2019s possibly the nicest person I know,\u201d the former world No 33 wrote.<\/p>\n One of Polmans\u2019 former coaches replied, also vouching for the world No 140. Marcel du Coudray replied: \u201cHaving coached Marc @marcpolmans for two years, I can tell you he\u2019s the nicest guy and wouldn\u2019t harm a fly. I know he\u2019ll be feeling so bad for his actions and will totally own it. Of course I really hope the umpire is doing ok!\u201d<\/p>\n Polmans is yet to address the incident on social media since he was disqualified from Shanghai. But another Australian player has already commented on his outburst – Nick Kyrgios.<\/p>\n We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/72\/590x\/secondary\/4991508.jpg?r=1696334572245\")
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